European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the European Union is prepared to fully apply its digital laws to all major tech companies, including X, Meta, Apple, and TikTok, regardless of who leads them or where they are based.
In an interview with Politico, she emphasized that the rules enacted by EU lawmakers must be followed.
We have opened cases against TikTok, X, Apple, Meta — these are just a few examples. We apply these rules fairly, proportionately, and without bias. We don’t care where the company is from or who leads it. We care about protecting people, von der Leyen said.
It was recently revealed that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, could face a fine of more than 500 million euros for illegally transferring European users’ data to China. This fine could become the third largest ever imposed in the EU for breaching digital regulations, after Amazon (746 million euros) and Meta (1.2 billion euros).
The exact size of the fine and the decision timeline are not final and may still change, according to Bloomberg sources.
This fine announcement comes amid the fact that by April 5, TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, was required to find a buyer for its U.S. division, or the app would be banned in the country. However, President Donald Trump later extended the deadline for reaching a deal.
